INFESTED WITH BEAVERS!

Hello! Sorry for the lag in posts last week, I was without power for 2.5 days and it was a bit of a grind. No power means no water or heat either, which makes a person’s daily efforts revolve around making those things happen since there are large animals and small animals here to care for in addition to Manfriend Jeff and I. (If the car had broken down then we would have been screwed.) When I left for NYC yesterday it was still dark and I had packed in the dark so lets hope I didn’t forget anything important! Yikes… And now, here is the post I started last week!

Well, it has finally happened, beavers have moved in! I couldn’t be happier. I’ve lived here almost 20 years and have never had any of them decide my tiny pond was worth a shit, but now I’m cool! Haha! My friend who has been working at my place noticed a massive poplar tree had a big hunk carved out of its bottom one day about a month ago. The yellowish buff flesh of the tree stands out like a neon sign against the black-white-grey winter landscape surrounding it. There was also a suspicious amount of willow missing. That must be the key to their coming and staying? I was letting the pond go “natural” and we had willow pretty much take over the southern banks. 

The beavers haven’t been here too long, no longer than late summer I’m surmising, but considering a beaver can cut down a tree with a diameter of 5.9 inches in less than 50 minutes their full-sized (quite large) dam is not a surprising new feature on our modest pond. I could not be more excited. Beavers are mostly nocturnal but I’m hoping to observe them in spring? I’m hoping the lodge means they have committed to the site for at least a season.

Beavers are the 2nd largest rodent (after capybaras) and are one of the most interesting mammals on the North American continent. Check out their Wiki! They are very good for habitat restoration and make way for a lot of species (unless they are the unfortunate beavers mistakenly introduced to Chile…) to find homes and expand territory. I am selfishly jubilant over the possibility to (unobtrusively, of course) observe some baby beavers. Look at this kid! They are not just cute, they are some sort of babylicious there is no word for yet. I’ll keep you posted. 

Here is the photographic evidence! We kept a distance from the lodge as not to disturb them. Beaver handiwork, beaver tracks lead to beaver snacks! And in the last photo the big downed poplar which crosses over to their lodge on the far bank. You can even see their trail that goes up onto the top of the lodge!